The darkest hour
by DiamondFever
Summary: Taking place shortly after Fairy Foxes episode 11, the foxes prepare for their final battle against the king in attempt to win their freedom. But what they weren't expecting was for one of their own to suddenly snap, and for the rest of their group to slowly spiral out of control. The looming war isn't the only monstrosity waiting to claim our heroes last breaths...
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note;** _I am not at all used to writing anything dark or gritty, I'm best at writing cute fluffy nonsense like in the Mark Bakes a Cake story. I'm still a beginner in all aspects, so if this story isn't exactly the kind of edge you're looking for, reviews would be nice. Also this story takes place directly after Fairy Foxes episode 11, gore warning for those who are sensitive to blood._

* * *

All he felt was scorching torment, each breath was ragged, coming out slowly and shakily as he attempted to pull himself up.

A black furred hand grabbed onto a long broken down machine as the weakened fox pulled himself up-right, the world was spinning around him as his headache become worse. Loud thumping embracing his being as bolts of electric ice split his skull open like an eggshell. Kai inhaled slowly, lungs greedily taking in the stale air of the lab as he attempted desperatly to regain control over his form.

Everything that had let up to that moment had been a blur, a shaky unstable memory that made his fur bristle as shivers ran down his spine. He had been betrayed, though it hadn't come as much of a shock. Kai had known Mimi suspected him of being a trader for weeks now, though he wasn't entirely sure what might've given' the lavender vixen the idea in the first place.

Sure he was quiet, he had the right to his own privacy, yeah he was very cold and calculating, but shouldn't everyone be in such a time as this?

For god's sake's he'd drunken POISON to save Mark's life, plus if the poison hadn't been drank within' the hour an entire army of hawks would have attacked their hideout... _But hawks DID attack our hiding space, is it possible she believed that was of my doing?_ Kai shook his head slowly, ridding himself of such thoughts. _There are more important things at hand, I must get back to the others, and warn them of-_ Kai's thought's were cut off as he felt something hard thud into his side, his breath being forced out of his body as he felt himself hit the hard stone floor with a meaty thump.

He heard a soft menacing laughter emit from his attacker, it was a voice he recognized and the realization that he'd just been caught weak and alone sent a small spike of dread up his spine.

"Ohohohoo, Kai! What a nice surprise, Andre was right to have me check here immediatly after arrival. Hm, you seem to be having a bit of trouble, let me help you with that~" Quick as lightening Kai shoved himself away from the orange colored fox before he could land another blow, and before Spencer knew what had happened Kai lunged toward him, knocking his teeth in with a still weak yet firm punch.

Spencer fell backwards letting out a grunt of pain, the gross feeling of warm blood running down his now surly broken nose.

"I see you're not in the mood for games, same old boring Kai as usual I guess. Alright, let's get this over with, I'm sure Andre will LOVE it if I bring him your pel- AH-"

Once again Spencer's world exploded into pain as the still conscious black kitsune rammed him in the stomach, effectively cutting him off and succeeding in pinning the too talkative for Kai's tastes fox to the hard concrete. Spencer growled in irritated fury at his opponent, his words coming out as a his as if from a deadly snake, each word aimed to maim.

"You know, Kitsune, it's very **rude** to cut off someone, especially when they're in at a much higher rank then you when it comes to work strategy." Kai raised an eyebrow, but decided to pay the sunset colored fox no mind, raising his fist and swiftly bringing it back down again, causing the younger foxes jaw to audibly crack from pressure.

"Says the boot-licking piss colored fox who hasn't gotten a promotion in five years. I wouldn't be so quick to judge if I were the one currently eating fist."

"BITE IT TRAITOR-" Spencer's remark didn't pay him off well when once again Kai's fist met the messenger fox's face. Except this time Kai didn't give his opponent the opportunity to talk back, he raised his fist swiftly again and brought it back down, then again and again, each blow rewarding in sickening cracking and squelchy pops and gurgles as blood flew and spluttered from the head of the almost unrecognizable Spencer. Even after the other stopped struggling and only small twitches were felt, Kai kept beating the straddled fox over and over, not out of rage or any noticeable emotion, it was simply just seemed like the right thing to do.

He found himself sort of enjoying the feeling of bludgeoning the fading life out of the gory fox below him, but Kai was able to pay no mind to such thoughts, simply brushing them off as wanting to teach the enemy a lesson.

Finally after some time, Kai stood from the bloody mess before him.

He could tell that Spencer was still alive, if not barely, and for a moment the onyx furred vulpine found himself wondering if maybe he should finish the poor bastard off or simply leave him to be found by Andre and his other minions... _Andre would not be pleased with his failure, he'd probably just slit his throat... Then again, I doubt Andre will even come looking for him, he's smart enough not to assume Spencer would be any match for me, not even in my weakened state._

His choice made, kai began his slow walk up the basement steps and into the warm light of the sunlit royal hall-way. He inhaled deeply, only then realizing that his body was still attempting to recover from the effects of being nearly electrocuted to death.

Plus the two weeks without food or sleep. These thoughts are what brought him back to thinking about Mimi and how she'd deceived him into letting her follow where he went, only leading to her attempting to murder him in cold blood.

Kai shook his head again, remembering that he must focus at the task at hand, finding the others and warning them that Andre may very well be hunting them down right now. Kai took another step, but it was this time he moved that he finally felt the warm liquid that painted his fur red and caused it to stick to his skin in such an odd feeling way. Kai looked down to see that he was indeed covered in the ruby substance, nearly his entire torso was drenched in the stuff, it dripping off of him and landing on the floor below with soft drips and plops as it made contact.

"Oh goody. I'm sure Mimi and whomever else she's convinced against me will be just pleased to see me arrive in the library drenched the blood of some helpless bloke..."

Kai stared downward at himself, biting the inside of his cheek as he knew he'd need to come to a decision. Having worked here before he was well aware that a bathroom for washing blood off of lab workers was situated down the hall, however the problem lay where'inst there were often young maidens working down there. Tending to cleaning and tasked with the welfare of anyone who entered, and last Kai checked murdering a bunch of teen girls was not exactly how he imagined his ideal relax-before-bath time.

 _I don't want to, I don't even think it's necessary to clean up before attendance, but I cant feel comfortable fighting around my friends looking like... Like a murderer._

The dampened fur of his hide bristled slightly as Kai grimaced at the word, but he quickly steeled himself.

These foxes wanted to destroy the whole human race and take over the world, they were the enemy and it certainly did not count as murder to put a few of them in their place, young or not. Kai hastened his walk as best as he could, ignoring how gross and uncomfortable the blood staining his usually pristine midnight coat felt against his taught muscles. He needed to help his friends, his friends wouldn't appreciate him showing up covered in someones life essence, a bath was required...

 _Some throats can be slit to get a little needed session done, regardless of if anyone perceives them as innocent or not  
_

* * *

Back at the library the rest of the Fairy Foxes gang were facing their own dilemma, a cooperate by the name of Paul was currently attempting to cut their heads off. He lunged forward at Mark, blade ready and aimed to impale, luckily the brown furred fox was quite speedy for someone carrying his own heavy weaponry.

Mark jumped out of the way at the last second, landing somewhere behind Kiki, who as soon as the chance arose shot a ball of burning hot embers at their sunset colored opponent. Paul was just barely able to dodge with only the fur of his arm being singed, he growled in anger and lunged at the ruby colored vixen, aiming for her throat as he jumped toward her. His attack was cot short however as a purple colored foot slammed him right in the face, sending his body flying through the air, an "OOMPH-" emitting from him as he rolled and tumbled accross the hard stone floor.

"That's what you get for being such a jerk!" Mimi scolded loudly, but was taken aback when the opposing fox swiftly jumped back to his feet and teleported right behind her, she didn't have enough time to dodge as he slashed his blade at her face.

However his aim was thrown off as he hissed in pain from an arrow that now stuck out of his back, he turned ready to attack the small brown dragonite that wielded the bow from which the arrow was shot, but that proved to be a mistake has he was promptly shoved and pinned to the ground by the female behind him.

Mimi held the struggling mango colored fox still as Kiki kicked his sword to the other side of the room, far from his grasp. "Ha! Good job Louie, Mimi would've been a goner if you hadn't been so quick with that bow!"

The much younger chocolate colored fox blushed as the taller fiery red vixen ruffled his hair playfully, in the background Zoey running over to Mark to inspect his injuries. "Zoey I;m fine I promise!" However the pastel blue fox was having none of his games, Mark had been the first to be attacked by Paul and as much as he'd not want to admit it, everyone saw him take a beating. "Don't try to make me feel better Mark, you're injured and you need some rest, now stay still and let me see your wounds"

After some more congrats and head ruffles shared between Kiki and Louie, the aforementioned ruby furred female walked over to her lilac colored companion, who'd just finished swiftly knocking their previous attacker unconscious.

"So Mimi, did'ya manage to get anything useful out of him? Like maybe, how many cooperates should we be prepared to deal with and what time can we expect the probably-whole-army to arrive? C'mon sis, gimme the details!" instead of an answer or even an actual acknowledgement, all Kiki got from her lavender friend was a sigh, a grunt, and a glare that seemed to be directed more at something far off in space rather then the ruby fox it was unintentionally aimed at.

'Nope, nothing at all! In fact, I got SO much of NOTHING, that I have absolutely no idea what we are to expect coming our way... I would've tried pulling his whiskers out one by one until he gave me the answer, but unsurprisingly I guess, he refused to even try to cooperate. Funny, how there name is literally BASED on cooperating." Kiki stayed silent for a second, then smiled warmly at her friend. "Well, even if we didn't get any information out of that sorry-excuse for citrus rip-off, I'm sure we'll pull through like we always do. After all, Kai knows the layout of this place like the back of his hand, I'm sure if an army does come hunting our hides, Kai can just help up lay low and find a way to sneak attack em'!"

Kiki failed to notice the flinch and sudden tensing of her best friends muscles at the mention of that name, Mimi had yet to actually tell her friends what she'd been forced to do when exploring the lab alone the midnight traitor. They wouldn't believe her right off the bat that Kai was planning to kill them all, and Mimi knew for sure that Kiki would be especially hard to convince, seeing as how she was head over heels in love with the recently deceased vulpine. Mimi simply stood, and coldly walked over to the other side of the room where a water cooler at.

She needed water, the room was starting to close in on her, and the air was suddenly very hot. Her fur felt tight on her skin and everything was itchy, oh so grossly itchy. Mimi was becoming aware that none of them had slept or ate well in weeks, they were all constantly on guard in case of an attack from the hawks, and the only one who was truly capable of helping them win this unimaginably unfair war just so happened to have been the very fox she'd murdered to save him from slaughtering her friends...

Mimi felt sick. That was all there was too it, her thoughts started to blur together as her brain became numb, she didn't register herself sitting down on the floor in the far corner of the room, water dribbling out of her mouth as her throat failed to work during her current state of a break down.

Kiki was currently chasing Louie with the the cooperates sword in some variation of a game of tag, said cooperate was still knocked out cold on the floor, Mark and Zoey were happily chatting away, their fur highlighted by the bright sunlight that shown down in colorful beams through the beautifully decorated none of it registered to her slowly numbing mind, not even the smell of her own unwashed body could deter her from her slow descent into madness. She needed a break, the all needed a break, that was the last thought her mind was capable of registering before she slowly drifted off to a sleep that would surely be riddled with nightmares of her and her friends being skinned alive, burning corpses littering the ground as the whole world was set a light from the flame of the enemy's rage.

Mimi didn't feel anything as she curled up into a tight ball of misery on the floor, her water long forgotten, spilled from it's cup that rolled accross the ground since she'd not been strong enough mentally to keep it in her hand.

She would rest, and hopefully the next time she woke, it'd be to the blade of the enemy piercing through her organs and delivering her final breath for her. As the last strands of consciousness started to fizzle away from her being, Mimi felt a small smile grace her lips, for she could finally rest without a care in the world to shake her. Everything was most certainly not going to be okay, and that comforted her, as she slowly drifted off to a mentally broken sleep.

* * *

Kai woke up slowly, feeling himself surrounded in water that was quickly cooling to room temperature. He glanced around the room he was in, memories slowly fading back into his mind. He'd entered the bathroom, murdered the three maids that had been on patrol, and gotten into the bath. Everything after that was just darkness, leading Kai to assume he'd fallen asleep shortly after getting in the warm water. He sat up and grabbed the metal bars located on the wall next to the bath, pulling himself up and using the wall to support himself as he stepped out.

Red lukewarm water dripped from him, and it became apparent that he'd need to restart his cleaning time. He let the water out of the tub, using the shower hose to spray it clean of all blood present, then he stepped into the shower and started his task.

Kai sighed heavily as he felt the hot water run down his tired form, he squirted far too much soap into his hands and started to lather himself up with the cherry scented substance. It didn't take very long for the blood to flow completely down the drain, and once he was sure his coat was once again spotless, he stepped out of the tub and onto an area of the floor that was still clean from blood.

Turning the water off behind him, Kai grabbed a towel and quickly gave his body a dry off, it didn't take long since his fur was naturally light and fluffy, and once he was done he looked toward the entrance for a way out.

There was blood all over the bathroom, only a few select places on the floor and walls were spared from the crimson result of his massacre. Kai estimated the small amount of time he'd had of sleep whilst in the tub, guessing it to have been around thirty minutes by the temperature of the water. He'd reserved just enough energy to teleport twice, once out of the bathroom, and once later on if he needed a quick escape.

With that Kai did as he needed, teleporting into the hall way outside of the door, free from any possibility of becoming soaked in blood once again... That is, until he came accross another corporate.

Without another moments hesitation Kai started to make his way back to the library to meet up with his friends, once there he would do his best to deny and defend himself against that bitch Mimi's claims... _I don't know about Zoey and the red one, but I do know for certain that Mark and Louie would not believe her for a second. I don't care what she tries to tell them while I'm gone, we will not loose this war because of her silly assumptions!_

His form stiffened and he stood a little taller, resolve hardening as he allowed himself to feel confidence. They would win this fight, everything would go as planned, and then finally they'd all be able to sleep peacefully. Kai kept up these thoughts as he sped up his pace, a small smile grazing his lips as his eyes shimmered with unbridled confidence. Nothing could stop him now, of that he was sure...


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note;** _There are so many words I just can't spell for the life of me. If anyone spots any misspelled words or words that don't exist, please tell me! Chances are I either could not spell them for the life of me, or simply couldn't think of another word to write. I don't have a very big thesaurus ^^;_

* * *

Mimi awoke with a start at the feeling of something lightly tapping her shoulder, sound slowly starting to filter into her thoughts as the world came back to her in a fuzzy blur. She lifted her head as her eyelids opened drowsily, blinking a few times as she regained her surroundings.

"Wha- What?" She asked sleepily, the adrenaline that had filled her veins had only put more strain on her conscious, but was fading quickly leaving her feeling more tired then she had when she'd awoken. The amethyst fox looked up at the one who had awoken her, a brown furred face with worried blue and green orbs looked down upon her. Louie smiled softly as he helped her sit up, seeming happy that she was finally awake.

"Mimi, I'm glad you're alright, we wanted to let you sleep but there's something we need to deal with and we need your help with it."

Mimi perked up slightly after hearing this, being the smartest fox among them meant that she had a sole responsibility of assisting her friends in any situation they may face. She flinched, as she realized she was acting as if she'd only ever been the smartest among them. Kai, the illusive midnight fox who's face seemed to haunt her every waking thoughts, had been one of the only other people she'd ever met who she'd considered to have been at her intelligence level. He'd met all of the requirements to be a gifted scholar, a talented warrior... And it was a shame he couldn't have been a good friend. Deceit was a bitter sweet taste and Mimi hadn't taken it well when she'd learned of his true intentions.

Clenching her fists and letting out a silent breath, she calmed her nerves and smiled brightly at Louie. _I must forget about these things, Kai is dead and there's nothing I can do about it. It was his own fault for being on the side of the enemy, he was never a true friend and completely deserved what I gave to him.  
_  
"Oh? What would that be?"

Louie seemed to share her cheerfulness for a bit, but Mimi had the growing feeling that something was off. The atmosphere felt somber, the fading light of the sun beating down on them through the stain glass window did not help to make this any less awkward. It was getting tenser as Mimi realized her other friends were chatting silently among themselves a few shelves away.

The two foxes made there way over to their other friends, who looked up at them hopefully. All but Kiki, who seemed angry about something, the small ruby colored fox sat lent against a book shelf as she tore pages out of a book boredly. "Is everything okay over here?"

Mimi asked, now fully aware of the fact that her friends were not in the best of moods.

"No. Kai has not returned yet, and we can't proceed as planned until he comes back."

"Oh..."

 _Damn._ She should've expected as much, of course the others would notice their friends absence. Kai was a very important aspect in their plans to take back the kingdom, and Mimi once again found herself being reminded that they were now down half their intelligence and nearly half of their strength do to his absence. Her late charcoal furred companion's disappearance would not go down well with the others, and Mimi knew that there was no way she could convince them so easily of his treachery, They'd think she'd gone mad, and she'd be out-casted. It was too soon, her thoughts raced against each other in attempt to think of a possible distraction before her friends started to get suspicious.

She sat next to Mark who was the one who'd responded to her question, as she did her best to hide the fact that she was nervous as all hell at the current moment.

"You were the last one to see him" Zoey started, catching Mimi's attention as the lavender fox calmed a bit hearing her friends voice. At least someone was calm in this whole situation... "So we were hoping maybe you'd be able to tell us where he might be?"

Mimi gulped, an action that seemed a lot more difficult now that she was in the presence of her whole group. The room had become hot and it felt like her fur was sticking to her body, almost as if the castle had no air conditioning. "Last I heard from him he wanted to stay behind to do more research, I'm not sure where he might have gone though."

"Well where was the last place you saw him?" Kiki snapped, her blazing orbs shifting to Mimi at a frightening speed, it was obvious the scarlet vixen was not in the mood for messing around.

"We need to find him, he's important to our group, just tell us where he is?"

"Kiki, calm down. I'm sure Kai is fine, please remember that Mimi just awoke and we're all stressed at the moment. We need to remain calm and rational." Kiki huffed and turned her head back to the library door, Zoey's words having momentarily calmed the fire that burned within her.

"...The last place I saw him was.. Um..." _Think girl, think! Don't let them know you've something to hide, make it convincing and fast!_ She pulled her tail into her lap and clenched it, smiling once again as she calmed her nerves.

"The last place I saw him was a few halls from the cafeteria, he said he was going to stay behind to do some investigating and that I could return back here if I wanted. I chose to come back because it seemed like he wanted to be alone, I have no way of knowing where he is now."

Kiki seemed to calm a bit at this answer, standing as she stretched a bit seeming ready to leave now that she has a solid answer. "Alright awesome, lets go then! We'll check out the cafeteria and see if Kai is still around. The sun is setting so it won't be too hard to sneak by if we see any recruits!"

"hold it, Kiki we can't just go wandering around the castle. We don't even know where the Cafeteria is! We will wait here while Mimi goes to fetch Kai, she can get there and back faster without us slowing her down." Mark nodded at Mimi as he finished his sentence, oblivious to just how nervous he made the now shaking lavender fox feel. _He wants me to go? Oh jeez, this isn't good, I can't turn up empty handed... Maybe if I just, say I couldn't find him.. Or.. Say i found his remains... Yeah, yeah that could work... Hopefully._

"Uh- I mean..." Before she could finish her sentence was interrupted by the still roudy crimson menace.

"Uhg! How about I just go with Mimi then? I have some stuff I wanna talk about with Kai and Mimi could use the protection anyways" The aforementioned purple brainiac's fur ruffled at the implied insult, but nonetheless she still managed to keep her cool, despite panic levels increasing with drastic speed. With that the group all agreed, albeit shakily on Mimi's end, on what their plans were, and Mimi and Kiki set off down the halls in attempt to find their friend.

* * *

The maid's scream was cut off as her neck was snapped gracefully from behind, Kai walking around her corpse as he proceeded on his journey. He wasn't too far from the library now and didn't have any plans on stopping soon, shoving the body into a supply closet as he continued to walk down the heavily decorated hallway.

The blue cape he wore swayed and seemed to blow in a non-existent wind as he walked at a peaceful pace, the sunset outside the window painting the entire room in a warm orange as the clouds outside blew slowly in the faint breeze.

Ksi was almost lost in thought, before he suddenly became aware of the hushed chatter of maids as silent footsteps neared his area. On instinct the black fox swiftly jumped to the side to hide behind a shelf, pulling out a sword he'd recently acquired and readying himself for the kill. All at once he threw himself at the vixens as they approached, and was barely able to stop himself as he immediately recognized the unmistakable bright red and soft lavender furs of two of his female friends.

Both of which seemed to hold back squeals as they jumped in fright from the surprise, one suddenly looking happy while the other's face turned to one of utter dread.

"Kai!" kiki shouted far two loud for his pleasure as she jumped onto him in a tight hug, squeezing his already brittle body and making it a tad harder for him to take in air. His golden orbs reached Mimi's emerald ones in a lock eyed stare of death, one seeming to shrink and quiver at the gaze as the other stayed calm and emotionless.

A chill ran up Mimi's spine as she regarded the disheveled vulpine who was now seeming to size her up, she wasn't quite sure whether she wanted to run for the hills or curl up and let her soul be consumed by the ever growing blackened void that seemed all to present in the one she was currently staring at. On one hand, she wouldn't be labeled a murderer by her friends... On the other, she was currently locked in the gaze of a walking corpse, one who undoubtedly would warn all of her friends of her misdeeds given he still had the strength to speak.

"Hello Mimi, it is nice to make your acquaintance one again." Mimi jumped slightly at the break in the shared silence, now only registering the continued rambles of her hot tempered friend who was now lecturing the black menace whilst simultaneously happily asking dozens of unimportant questions as she continued grasping at him in the tightest hug her little arms could manage.

"HEY? WHY DOES SHE GET A HELLO AND NOT ME?" Kiki huffed loudly, only now letting go of her trapped love interest. Kai seemed to disregard her immediately however, his focus obviously pointed at the older of the two.

"I'm not sure what your intention was with that little stunt back there, but rest assured I'm not one to take revenge on those I'm acquainted with..." He paused, noting the fear his words drug out of the young vixen, taking moment to revel in the terror in her eyes. "I am perfectly willing to talk this out with you in a calm and civilized manner, and for the sake of the others I do hope you agree."

Mimi gulped, his words also catching the interest of Kiki. "Stunt? What stunt?" The ember coated fox looked over to her friend with a concerned expression, and for the first time in forever, Mimi actually felt her stomach drop entirely.

"Well, I- I uh- ..."

Silence filed the area, the very last strands of sunlight casting shadows on the figures it stood behind, painting Kai out to be far more menacing then Mimi could have ever imagined him to look. His eyes seemed to glow in the fading brilliance of the celestial body, fire dancing in his honey touched orbs as he glared daggers of hate directly into her weeping soul.

She couldn't handle it.

"T-here's nothing to discuss, not here at least." Mimi Paused,choosing her words carefully.

"Not in front of Kiki at least, er... anyone for that matter." She was trying to play the situation off as if nothing serious had actually happened, but Kai could see right through her antics. Nevertheless, he nodded, at least now he knew she felt guilty. That was enough to almost make him not want to fully confront her... Almost.

Kiki had definitely picked up that something was wrong with her two friends, and Mimi's unwillingness to discuss it irked her. She didn't want to cause a scene encase it really was nothing, but that didn't stop her mind from racing from conclusion to conclusion. Had Mimi and Kai.. done something together? The very thought made a small shiver of hate run down her spine, but seeing as the two never seemed too fond of eachother, she decided it really was best to just ignore those thoughts.

After another moment the three agreed to head back to the library, they needed to prepare for the final battle and the others were expecting them to come back.


	3. Chapter 3

The air was tense as the three friends made their way back to the library, Kai having taken the lead due to his familiarity with the castle. On the way Kiki kept looking up and back and forth at the two, trying her best not to burst with questions.

Mimi on the other hand was silent, her nerves were fried as a million different scenarios played out in her head.

Kai was perfectly willing to slaughter her friends and overthrow the king himself, hell he'd been the one to say it! _"Maybe ease dropping really was the wrong thing to do... No!"_ She clenched her eyes shut and breathed out heavily, if she hadn't listened in to the conversation she would've been no help to the fate of her friends.

The trio rounded a corner when Kai suddenly stopped, causing the two girls to look up curiously. He raised his hand to his mouth in a shushing motion, and it was then when their ears picked up on the sound of chatter. "I'm going to take a look, do not follow." The black furred fox whispered, the vixens nodding as he slowly made his way down the hall and out of sight.

Moments passed without any notion of a fight or disturbance, the silence began to erk at the both of them.

"Okay that's it, what's the deal with you two? You've been acting weird since we met up with Kai!"

Mimi flinched slightly at the sound of Kiki's harsh whisper, she looked away at the darkening sky outside the crystalline windows. "It's nothing, honestly. Just an um.. disagreement is all."

"Like hell it is Mimi, in all the six months we've been on this quest I've never seen Kai that angry!"

This had caught Mimi off guard, she looked her friend in the eye, startled by the sudden fiery response. "K-Kai's not angry, it's really nothing to concern yourself with-" Kiki growled, her friends unwillingness to spill the beans starting to get her angry.

"I'm not stupid Mimi, I know you're it might be hard to get on my level from up on your high-horse, but you're hiding something and I'm down right convinced it's something YOU did!" Mimi stepped back a little, Kiki's voice having risen from a whisper to a stone cold growl. She was starting to regret trying to kill him, even if she knew deep down it was the right thing to do.

"I-I'm not on a high-horse, please just calm down... I did do something okay! But, I don't want to talk about it here. Please just listen, something bad is going to happen and I want to do my best to stop it, but in order to do that I will need the help of all of my friends. Can you do that for me? Can you wait for when it's the right moment for me to say what I need to say, to everyone?"

Kiki was not impressed, she wanted to argue so badly, but held her tongue. "Fine, but only because I've known you since kindergarten. I better not find out you're trying to steal my man."

'I- Wait-" Mimi's face turned to that of confusion, but before she could ask her question a familiar midnight fox walked back around the corner and stood in front of them. "Enemies taken care of, let's move." Kiki's demeanor stayed the same, but she walked closer to Kai when the three continued their way back to the others. Mimi gulped, praying that this would all go down well.

* * *

Back in the library the air had a much lighter tone to it, Mark had managed to find a pantry that held snacks in it and the remaining three friends were all currently chowing down. Zoey looked up at mark who was currently shoving hand fulls of crackers into his mouth.

"Yuck, didn't anyone teach you any manners?" The cocoa colored fox stopped for a second to look at her in confusion. "Huh?"

Zoey face palmed. "You know, chew with your mouth closed, eat one thing at a time... Don't choke!" "Oh, nahh. Being held in prison your whole life kinda teaches you some things. Like for example-" He reached over to where Louie was sitting and snatched a sandwich from him. "-Your food can be taken at any moment."

"Hey! Give that back!" Louie shouted, lunging forward to try and retrieve his food. Mark was leaning back and holding the sandwich above his head, Louie tried to stand and grab it but Mark was faster and soon enough the two were fighting like toddlers.

"Kai's gonna kick your ass when he gets back if you don't give me that!" Zoey sat there in complete shock, before she regained her composure.

"Mark! Give that back to him, why would you just do that?" "Because." Mark responded. "It's an example of why we must act fast and stay vigilant, at any moment an enemy could attack and take something from us. That's why we have what you would call, bad table manners. He needs to learn how to fend for himself."

"But that's just not fair, you're way taller and older-" Before she could finish the short brown furred fox leapt to the ground, roundhouse kicked Mark in the stomach, then snatched the sandwich from him as the older landed onto the blue vixen sitting a few feet away.

"Little brat!" Mark shouted, jumping back onto his feet, he ran at Louie who had just finished scarfing down the stolen lunch item. "Gah!" Louie jumped back from Marks attack, then ran for his life with the older chasing him. Zoey simply sat there, mouth agape at what had just occurred in the last 3 minutes. _"Oh jeez, I really hope those three return soon..."_

* * *

Kai stepped lightly through the halls as he lead the two girls back to where there other friends had met up. His thoughts were focused on Mimi and how exactly he was going to punish her for crossing him, before this whole mess had occurred had have been damned if he ever killed another fox again. Now it was all the ex-assassin could think about.

He stopped as an idea came to mind, then he turned and addressed the two girls. "We're getting close to a more heavily populated area in the castle. There will be recruits and hawks everywhere." He motioned his head towards Mimi, who looked up at him with fear. "Mimi, I'll need you to come with me to help fight." "M-Me? Why me?"

She questioned, not liking the idea of being alone with Kai. "Because you're better at stealth combat and can help me quickly knock out the guards by making fog with your nature magic." "Hey! I can help too!" Kiki interrupted, not wanting to be left out of the fun.

"Yes, you can help too. Kiki, you can stay here and make sure no one bothers us while we work." "Why can't I join in the fight?" "Because you're too loud and impulsive, and I'd rather not see the king alerted to our plans because of a massive fire break out."

This seemed to piss Kiki off even more, but she tried to keep her cool since she didn't want to accidentally yell at her friend.

"Fine. Just don't take too long." Kai nodded, he turned his attention to Mimi and motioned for her to follow.

She did such reluctantly, the feeling of intense anxiety starting to fill her more and more. _"This is bad..."_

* * *

Sitting on the steps that led up to the marble throne was a black coated fox with a percululer tuft of white bangs hanging down one side of his head. He stared at the large oak doors that stood tall at the far end of the room, those were the vary doors that two of his personal recruits were supposed to come through. Those were the vary doors that his recruits had failed to enter for over an hour.

"Something is wrong." Andre hissed under his breath, failing to avoid the attention of the king who sat proudly on his throne. "My king-" He turned to the wooden colored hawk with the metal eye. "They've not reported back yet and it's been over an hour, what shall you have me do?"

King Garuda merely looked down at the fox who sat before him, they shared eye contact for a brief moment, before he closed his eyes and spoke.

"You may check on them if you wish, but I wouldn't be surprised if what you found was less than pleasant."

Andre's fur stood on end slightly as his ears flattened. "I'm certain that they are fine my king, Paul and Spencer are my two best sodiars and both can hold their own in a fight."

Garuda was silent for a moment. "I'm not denying your sodiars capabilities General Paige, but they are up against Kitsune and is little possy-" "-No. Enough. Kitsune is no match for my recruits, especially not when he's weakend like he is."

The king nodded, then Andre stood and walked down from the steps and over to the doors. "We will capture fox 747 for you, that I can guarantee." Right before exiting the room he turned his ruby eyes back to the throne. "And Kai will be dealt with as well. I will see to it." And with that he left the throne room, intent on regrouping with his two friends and fulfilling his promise.

* * *

The stale air around the basement was inturrupted by the sound of footsteps for the third time that day. Andre steeled himself for what he might find, his two recruits failure to report to him on the hour had him worried for what he might find. As much as he hated to admit it, the kings warnings were true in nature. His half-brother was a powerful warrior and not one to mess with, he didn't want to think about what awful things might have happened to his two friends.

Andre froze when his foot hit the last step, and he felt a pool of warm liquid seep into his fur. He looked down into the room that was the basement turned lab, and his mouth went dry at what he saw. There was blood everywhere, one of the machines used for experimentation looked like it'd blown a fuse, and worst of all there was a red and orange mixed body crumpled up on the floor in the center of the room.

It was Spencer, and to Andre's horror, the place where the blood was collected the most.

"Hey!" Andre shouted, running over to the pile of broken fur and gore. He turned the fox over and jumped back in fear. Andre landed on his ass and into the blood, Spencer's face was broken and bloody, his body was cold and he looked like he'd been run over by a hundred trucks.

Andre stood quickly, nearly tripping over himself as he held back vomit, he was ready to leave when he heard a small moan of pain.

His head whipped back to his fallen friend, and he was shocked to see the mango colored vulpine twitch ever so slightly.

Andre looked back to the stairs, he called out for help hoping someone was nearby. There was no answer, and it was only now when he realized the whole section of the castle seemed to be silent. Doing his best not to look at the gorey mess of his friend, he grabbed Spencer and lifted him up bridal style.

The general made his way up the stairs and into the hall, he walked a few halls down where he knew a medical room was.

Andre peeked inside and was even more horrified, dead bodies of maidens young and old littered the floor. Whoever had done this had spared no one, Andre couldn't even begin to image who could of done such a thing. He shook his head and quickly started heading to another area in the castle where he knew there was a medical room, he had to get Spencer help and he needed to figure out who'd done this and fast.

 _"Could it have been one of those damned rebellion members? No, no. They don't kill people, at least not from what I've heard."_ He focused on his current mission, intent on continuing with his goal of capturing the Finder and the Keeper, but Spencer's well-being was first on his mind right now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:** _I feel that the story is progressing rather slowly and that most of these chapters are filled with, well, filler. So I'm going to try and write less slow chapters and have the story progress faster. I have no idea if this is a good idea or not, so critique and opinions would be nice. Also Kai kinda reverts into some Gojian dialect in this chapter and since that can be near impossible to understand at times, I'll have translations after those sentences._

* * *

Kai Kitsune stepped into a large circular room a few halls down from where he'd left Kiki, the lavender vixen Mimi was treding shortly behind him. Her tail nervously twitching as she contemplated whether or not she could take him on if he tried to attack her. She'd been suspicious of the midnight fox for several weeks since they'd originally met, that had been the whole reason she tried to kill him in the first place.

That and well, she had overheard him discussing with another recruit his very plans to kill Mark and Zoey to gain their power. Mimi wasn't a fool, she knew she could not trust him and neither could the others.

The two stopped and Mimi took notice of the fact that there didn't appear to be anyone in the room, she was about to say something but quickly stayed silent when Kai turned to her. "Mimi." "Y-yes, Kai?" His eyes bore into her like that of a thousand suns, burning into her soul and causing her ears to ever so slight go back in fear. "Tell me, in the midst of a nation-wide war between hawks and foxes, and as a rebel named group whomst mission is to stop those very hawks from doing away with an entire civilisation, at what point to you your mind was it signaled a good idea to make an attempt at the life of a companion to yourself?"

Mimi was silent for a second, his question was an odd mix of English and Gojian, it took her a bit to understand what he asked. She hadn't yet realized the implications of such a thing.

"I know about your plans to kill Mark and Zoey, a-and I could not afford that risk." Kai eyed the lavender female, his body was tense and he was prepared to strike at any moment. "And what would have you believe such a mind-set would I be of that? Would I have yourself so fooled as to think up such a scheme? Have you not any mind of the fact that I've a great trust in Mark as the lead of our rebel group?" **(Translation: And why would you think that? What did I do to make you think of that? I respect and trust Mark, and see him as a good leader for us.)**

It was becoming more difficult for Mimi to understand what the charcoal coated fox was saying, she wondered if possibly his speech was being affected by his anger- _"Wait, if that's the case- Is he really so angry? I need to-"_

Her thoughts were cut off as Kai lunged forward and pinned her hard against the wall, knocking the wind out of her as his hand tightened around her throat with a deathly grip.

"Our state of being might have had a negative blow if the mindstate you'd acted succeeded!In a usual circumstance I'd've simply spun the opposite sight but the fault of yourself could've created a massive flaw in the safe-in environment. I've felt such doings art not let off easily and that I my being will punish yourself!" **(Translation: Our group might've failed if you succeeded in killing me! Normally I'd just turn the other cheek but your jumping-to-conclusions seriously could have fucked us over and the hawks could've won. I don't think this is forgivable, and I will be the one to kill you for your treterry!)**

Mimi couldn't respond as her air supply was cut off, she'd tried to scream for help but found her world was darkening quickly. Finally he yanked her away from the wall, but this only brought momentary relief as she quickly found head being plunged into a barrel of water not to far away.

Bubbles oozed from her mouth and nose as she'd been plunged in right as she was taking a breath, she thought maybe this would be where she died but just as she would've passed out she was thrown onto the ground violently. The lavender fox coughed and sputtered, her visions flurry and everything seeming to be doubled, she then felt something being shoved into her mouth and practically down her throat. It was a carrot, rather large one at that, she wondered briefly why he'd done that but her answer came to her quickly in the form of searing hot pain on her back.

Mimi attempted to scream as she felt Kai shove his foot into her spine pinning her down as he yanked violently on her wings. Nothing came out of her mouth but muffled agony as her world was set on fire, she could feel the small fragile veins in her fairy-wings starting to pop as the soft silk-like skin slowly ripped. And then, with a sickening bloody tearing noise, one of the wings came off followed by the other merly seconds after he'd started pulling.

Mimi's magic lit up in a small explosion as the most unbearable pain in the world struck her body like an ongoing train, but do to the stress she was under and her wet fur her electricity only succeeded in electrocuting her.

It wasn't enough to kill her but it did burn and blacken her fur, causing her skin to feel overly soft and weak. Through the pain Mimi felt a warm wet sensation spread accross her legs and lower body, she'd pissed herself. Kai seemed to take pleasure in seeing the lavender vixen in such a state, he walked over to a wall that had a lamp hanging from it, grabbing the lamp and bashing it continuously over his victim several times. Burning hot coals spilled out of the thing and onto her body, the metal bruising her and the coals burning her bloody in the places they touched.

Finally Kai had decided he'd had enough fun, Mimi seemingly had passed out due to shock shortly after he'd hit her the first couple times. He went to grab her by the neck but stopped as his ears picked up slight movement from the doorway.

Without turning his head he shifted his eyes in the direction of a barely visible red figure who was staring at him through a small crack in the door. Like a deer in hadlights Kiki stared, frozen solid not able to move a muscle or even scream in terror.

In the blink of an eye the X-cooperate teleported behind the ruby vixen, grabbing her head and snapping her neck to the side before she could react. Her body hit the ground with a thud, and Kai was happy to have been able to dispose of two of the biggest annoyances in his current life. He dragged Kiki's body into the room and over to a large fireplace that took up almost half of one of the walls near the couches. Without a second thought the black menace tossed his former friend into the pit, her body quickly catching ablaze as hur fur and skin started to smoke.

kai grunted slightly at the irony, finding it amusing that someone who's prominent ability was fire, had met their end ablaze.

Walking over to Mimi's unconscious body Kai grabbed and started dragging her accross the room and over to the large stain glass windows. With the light of the ever fading sun painting his actions in history eternal, the rogue Gojian flung fated florists corpse out of the window. Glass shattered and decorated the floor, light gleaming off of the shards as Mimi's body fell thousands of feet.

Kai turned and walked away, not caring to watch the already broken body splatter and burst as it hit the hard stone pavement below.

He knew he would need to lie to Mark Zoey and Louie about what had happened to the girls, he stepped out of the room and continued his track to the library as he figured out what exactly to do next and how convincing his lie could be.

* * *

On the other side of the castle in the infirmary room sat a black furred fox with worried red eyes and white strands of hair that looked to have been dunked in paint. Andre stared at the wall on the other side of the room as he waited for a nurse or doctor to inform him of his friends situation. He didn't have much time to wait though, and feared he might have to leave before he could get input.

It pained him to think of the agony Spencer must've been in, he'd been the one to send the amber fox to his possible death. Andre feared that Paul might've met the same fate.

Finally the doctor walked out of the room his friend was being kept in, Andre stood and greeted him and he spoke. "Well General, miraculously it seems that your orange coated friend is still living and capable of recovery, though I'm afraid the damage he's sustained will keep him from any work or fighting for at least the next six months." "ix months!? But I- But! ..." Andre cursed under his breath, the doctor eying him with slight disdain. "He's suffered from a lot of broken bones, internal bleeding, brain damage and also seems to have had a seizure in between the time of the fight and you finding him. He's in no condition to do much of anything and if not allowed to heal, his chances of recovery will falter."

Andre nodded begrudgingly, he knew he couldn't blame any of this on Spencer, what was important now was that he stayed safe and Andre took care of the rebels.

After some more discussion on the topic and approval to leave, Andre stepped out of the infirmary and began walking down the halls towards the library. He needed to find Paul and fast, the black fox had not a single clue who or what had done that to Spencer, and if it had been the rebels then he needed act fast to save his other friend. "Regardless of if they're the ones responsible or not, those rebels will pay!"

* * *

Back in the library the aforementioned autumn fox slowly began to come to, he was laying in the corner of the far side of the room away from a small group who he recognized as the rebel foxes. They seemed to be missing the red one and the purple one, Paul was damned if he was going to bother to remember their names. Without drawing too much attention to himself he slowly sat up and examined his situation.

His hands were tied behind his back and an ametuer attempt at a knot, and the other foxes didn't seem to be paying much attention to him. By the position of the nearly non-existent sun Paul could determine that it'd been maybe two and a half hours since he'd been knocked out. His sword a lot closer to the small group of foxes then he'd like, he knew he wouldn't be able to get that back without a fight.

It didn't take very long to untie his wrists, _"These rebels sure suck at keeping someone hostage."_ He thought to himself as he slowly slinked his way behind some bookshelves.

He sighed silently in relief that they hadn't noticed his movement, and swiftly made his way over to the door. Before he could open it and escape he heard a shout, whipping his head around his cat-like reflexes were the only thing that saved him from the blade flying right at his face. Paul looked down and let out a breath of air he'd been holding, his sword was impaled in the door, and it didn't take long for the foxes to start running toward his position.

Paul quickly grabbed the sword and yanked it out of the door, he dodged Marks punch and sliced a gash in the sand hued foxes side, causing him to shout in pain and fall to his knees.

"Mark!" Zoey cried, Paul noticed she was wearing the amulet around her neck. " _She's the Finder."_ He noted in his mind, deciding that his new goal was to kill her and retrieve the amulet quickly. Though it was the Keeper that needed to be killed in order for one to gain the power of the amulet, killing the Finder was just as important. With that fox still alive it would be the only one able to use the amulet, if both were killed then anyone could activate and use the stone.

Paul dodged another attack from the small brown furred rebel, he recognized him as one of the dragonites, he lunged forward and with one swift motion slashed up and down, taking Louie's head off and landing some feet behind him.

Mark looked up, eyes widening as his mouth fell agape, Zoey screamed like bloody murder as one of their friends was executed right in front of their eyes.

Paul was quick in his movements, he knocked Zoey over and reached for the amulet, but was shoved off her violently by the Keeper. His sword once again hit the ground and slid away, the two foxes struggled against each other, but with his cut side and shocked state Mark was quickly flung off of the orange fox and hit the ground with an "Umph!" Paul grabbed his sword and was just about to attack again, when he heard a slight whooshing noise and suddenly felt a dark presence behind him.

Before he could react a midnight furred fox snapped his neck to the side and his lifeless body hit the floor below.

Mark looked up from where he was kneeling, his vision blurred from stress and pain, chocolate pools locked with honey orbs as the two acknowledged each other. "K-kai!" Zoey whispered, the aforementioned black fox looked at her as she shuddered in fear, his eyes followed her gaise as his sight lay upon the headless body of his younger brother.


	5. Chapter 5

The barrier cracked, the small incision forming slowly and barely noticeable against the fawn black that made up the wall in his mind. It was a strong wall that held his emotions in one specific section of his conscious, a wall that could never and should never be tampered with.

And yet, it cracked.

Kai's ears rang as his vision focused, he suddenly became aware of noise and the world around him. For a brief moment it had been as if he were in a completely different world, now he could once again hear light sobbing and something of a question. He looked over to his best friend and leader, Mark Rou. The light tan fox sat in a small pool of blood, doing his best to cover his wound with his tail and stop the bleeding, the Finder, Zoey, was curled up off to the side, sobbing lightly and hiding her face in her arms, tail wrapped around her trembling form.

Golden irises once again found the lifeless body of his youngest adopted sibling, however this time he felt nothing. His cold analytical mind began thinking of ways to get rid of the two bodies, they couldn't just leave them laying there after all.

"Kai..." Mark said, catching the black foxes attention once again.

"W-we need to go, I don't think it's a good idea to stay here any longer. I... We can't face the king with only... Wait, where's Mimi and Kiki?"

The light brown fox sounded worried, Kai had an almost immediate answer. "They were taken hostage by recruits, I'd tried to fight them off but I was too late. I'm afraid we'll have to proceed without them."

A shudder shook the cyan blue fairy as her body was racked harder with sobs, Kai payed her no mind but Mark immediatly noticed. He made his way shakily over to her and tried to provide comfort, but Zoey shrieked and jerked away at his touch.

"F-FLYING F-F-FREE!" She shouted, and with a flash of rainbow light she was instantly beamed down to the Earth below the clouds.

"F-Fuck!" Mark shouted, wincing in pain. "We have to go after her, who knows if the hawks or recruits will show up wherever she's hiding. Kai nodded, once again focused entirely on the mission at hand. He picked Mark up bridal style, which surprised the tan fox for a moment, then without hesitation he teleported back to the neighborhood of the humans that had kept them in the weeks before the journey.

* * *

Zoey was curled up in a bush behind the house of one of the human children that had befriended them, she knew that the humans were likely still at school and wouldn't find her there for a while.

Not that she wanted them to find her, she simply wanted to be left alone. Farther away Kai and Mark had also teleported into the area, Mark yelped when Kai fell to his knees, both wincing from the sudden impact. "Kai, are you okay?" Mark asked, concerned. "I am f-fine." Kai forced out, gritting his teeth. The lack of food or sleep was once again catching up to him, and he found it annoying that his body was so much weaker then his will was.

Kai placed Mark down, the tan furred fox using him for support as they stood and quickly made their way out of site. They chose to hide in a nearby park, both knowing that the humans surely would not react well to two bloody foxes waltzing around on two legs.

"I need to go back to the castle and hide the bodies of Louie and Paul, do you think you can stay here until then?" Kai asked, Mark looked him in the eyes with a stubborn glare. "Kai, we need to find Zoey... I don't think the recruits will care if there's two dead foxes there-" Kai shook his head, promptly cutting him off. "I simply want to give Louie a proper burial. And if they do see the corpses, they might get the hint that we flee'd. I'd rather them think we're still up there rather then come down here looking for us. You're in no position to fight, I can barely teleport, and we are three whole foxes down."

Mark sighed, then nodded in understanding. "Fine, but promise me you'll also try to bring Zoey back here? Like you said, I'm in no position to do anything." Kai agreed, then promptly teleported his way back to the hawks castle in the sky.

* * *

Andre stared down, his white stained bangs covering his face and hiding his grin expression from the other corporates around him. Paul was dead, Spencer was in critical condition, and it seemed the rebels had already escaped... Well, all except one of them.

The midnight furred fox recognized the young dragonite, head detached from his body and laying in a huge pool of crimson liquid. He grit his teeth hissing out a command for his officers.

"Find the rebels. Kill them. Have no mercy."

The cooparates saluted, "Yes sir!" then dispatched in different areas to find their enemies. Andre turned around and began walking, then suddenly a bight flash enveloped the room. He shielded his eyes and unsheathed his knife, looking up once the light faded to see the cold dead eyes of his half-brother staring directly at him. "Kai!" Andre shouted, catching the attention of the others, who also unsheathed their weapons. "How convenient." Kai said silently, he suddenly lunged at Andre who barely had a second to dodge.

Andre had slashed his knife at Kai, but Kai dodged and grabbed his arm, flipping the other fox over his head while simultaneously stealing the knife away from him. Andre hit the ground with a crunch, and swiftly rolled away as Kai plunged the knife into the ground where he'd been laying. Andre lunged at Kai, sword drawn, and the two clashed their weapons together as they fought in a battle of strength.

One of the cooperates lunged at Kai attempting to cut his head off, Kai ducked under Andre's blade and the black foxes sword met the head of the cooperate who was flying toward them. Andre stared in horror as he'd accidentally murdered one of his own men, but he was shaken out of it quickly as Kai came at him from behind.

Andre dodged, twirling around and slashing Kai in the face as he did so.

His attack was ranged though, and only resulted in a small cut on the others cheek.

Another cooperate ran at Kai, who dodged and lunged back at the cooperate who was now beside him. The two caught blade, Kai ducking down quickly and catching himself on his hands, using his feet to kick the cooperate hard accross the floor. The ebony fox swiftly stuck the knife in his foes chest, then turned around quickly to dodge another attacker.

Andre had hidden himself behind a bookshelf, constantly moving in the shadows and waiting for a chance at a surprise attack. Kai was currently occupied with several of his men, and it looked like they may have had him out numbered. That is until, Kai jumped into the air, slashed the stolen knife at the chain of a chandelier, then quickly teleported away as the large decoration crushed the three cooperates below it.

Andre's mouth fell agape, he then heard a whooshing noise behind him and by the skin of his teeth he managed to dodge Kai's knife as it slipped right passed where his neck at been. Andre, not having wanted to have to do this, summed up his energy and teleported back into the center of the room. He wasn't as skilled at that ability as his brother was, not many foxes were even able to learn it let alone master it such as Kai had. It simply took too much energy, and Andre could feel himself quickly becoming exhausted from the fight.

He surveyed the situation, there were only two of his men left alive, both were hiding somewhere he knew. The others were all dead, and it seemed Kai was after his life as well.

"Well well Kai, i was not expecting this out of you. Normally you'd seemed so hesitant to fight me, nor did i ever take you as the mass murdering type. Tell me, what changed?"

Andre asked with a crazed smile on his face, his opponent stepping out of the shadows, calm as the ocean and colder than ice. It sent a shiver down Andre's spine, causing him to question if possibly Kai had fallen into an even deeper madness then himself. That was a scary though, considering Andre was supposed to be the crazy murderous one.

Kai didn't say a word, he simply thrust himself forward towards his half-brother, who jumped back expectedly. Kai however, teleported at the last second, Andre's eyes widening as he did not have time to react at the clever double attack. Kai appeared behind him, and shoved his knife right through his foes chest.

Moments past as a cold breeze blew through the duos fur from the opened window, the light of the new moon bathing both foxes with it's chilling ethereal glow. Kai pulled away swifty, the body of the other hitting the ground with a soft thud. The last living fox used the corpse of his half-brother to wipe the crimson liquid off of his dagger, then proceeded unto dragging all of the bodies into one pile in the center of the library. The menace stepped lightly over to a torch on the far wall, he grabbed it, the blazing warmth emitted from the object not effecting is chilled disposition.

Without a second thought he threw the torch onto the corpses, watching with slight satisfaction as the flames quickly ate up their fur and singed their flesh. Any who could've been unlucky enough to be there would've had nightmares over the dead look in his tainted honey-colored pupils, the light of the fire reflecting off of them revealing the deepest depths of his blackened soul.

With the last bit of his strength, Kai teleported back down to the Earth below. He leant against a tree, breathing a heavy sigh as he inhaled the fresh air of the cool night.

He wanted to continue, but as soon as his body touched the grass he felt himself drift away. He couldn't resist, his body needed the rest and he'd practically worked it to death today. The midnight furred vulpine lay against the trunk of a large tree, his sleek form went limp and the only remaining light faded out of his field of vision. Sleep overcame him, and his soul soon plunged into a colorful world that he'd not layed eyes on since he was but a kit.

* * *

A warm breeze blew through the landscape as the light of the afternoon sun beamed down for all to see. It's golden rays bathing the land in a majestic shade of orange, there was a faint smell of fruit in the air as the afternoon lazed on. Tall pale yellow grass swayed lightly in the breeze, as the fur of a small black fox was ruffled along with it.

The world was colorful and welcoming when Kai opened his eyes, for a moment a thought passed through him, confusing him for a moment. But it quickly faded into nothingness as he remembered where he was.

"Kai!"

He heard a small voice call out to him, turning his head he smiled happily as he saw four much smaller purple fluff balls flying towards him. The four dark lavender foxes landed next to him, one of them tackling him in a hug. He said something to them, something that didn't seem to register properly in his mind, the world fazed for a second and as if nothing had happened Kai found himself at a table inside of a familier home.

His parents chatted happily with his sisters as they paid no mind to him, he twirled a small golden seed around in his hand idly not quite paying attention to them either.

"Kai!"

He gasped as a flash of light consumed the world and once again his location had changed. His mind ached with the muffled sound of his parents scolding him, the crying of his innocent little sisters, a blur of red and orange and his own screams. It left in an instant though as he found himself gazing into the loving eyes of his father, he had been tasked with re-planting the seed he'd dug up the previous afternoon.

Kai stepped out into the cool night air, a wooden sword grasped tightly in one hand and the seed grasped tightly in the other, everything would be fine, he could do this. The dark stared back at him as if in waiting to bite at him like a savage dragon. The darkness grew until he found himself alone in a cold cell, he missed his family greatly and he had to fight to hold back tears. He still had the seed from that night, forever destined to stay unearthed as the farm it'd once belonged to was thousands of miles away.

He was drowning, choking and hacking, he couldn't breath. His lungs burned, his heart burned, the hot tears that streamed down his face burned.

"Kai!"

He opened his eyes to the overly brightened and cheerful face of his adopted brother, Mark, he said something happily, the words were muffled. A new beginning? Pain shot through him as he was kicked in the side harshly by his half-brother, the training session ended and he had to drag himself back to his room. His eyes stared into the sparkling lavender orbs of a white furred fem fox, she nuzzled him softly and he felt a warmth throughout his body.

"Kai..."

She muttered, her voice was strange though, her words much clearer, her tone sounding heavier...


	6. Chapter 6

Kai's golden eyes opened, the brimming light of the sun causing him to flinch as his honey glazed orbs absorbed too much of its brilliance, he slowly sat himself up and stretched slightly. His bones cracked and popped as he did such, a wave of pain burning through his body from his feet to the tips of his ears as he moved. His breath felt hot, his fur cold, his mind clouded.

"K-Kai!"

His ears perked as a shrill voice broke through the haze of his still sleepy thoughts he looked forward, then everything that happened recently came flooding back to him and he felt his body droop as the coldness returned to his gaze. A powder blue figure was on the ground a few feet from him, he quickly recognized her as Zoey. Her fur was tainted crimson and she looked a mess, heavy breathes racking her body as she struggled to stay conscious. She'd been crouching but had recently fallen, she was clutching her stomach and there was blood gushing from her wound and all over the grass.

The red mixed dully with the brightened green of the ground below, the morning dew having been ruined by it's thicker cruder cousin. _'Disgusting.'_ Kai thought to himself, he'd never been one to care much for blood.

He stood and casually walked over to her, checking the wound, it was bad and she had lost a lot of blood while looking for him.

"What happened."

The question was cold, presented in a tone that demanded an answer, the sky hued vixen felt herself cringe at it's force and her fear grew. She swallowed as her mind formed an answer, that of which she found difficult to spout under the unforgiving gaze of the one who seemed to be marked as her tormentor.

"H-Hawks attacked- T-They're going after M-Mark!"

Kai's posture stayed the same, not a hair on his coat moved as he stared down at her. His expression was as unreadable as ever and Zoey felt herself shrink further down, a cool breeze blew through the land, swaying the grass lightly and rustling the leaves on the tree's. A chill ran down her coat as her sweat suddenly felt much colder, yet he still stayed frozen in that position. Something was not right...

"K-Kai... Kai-"

She gasped as something struck her and her world went dark, he'd seemingly moved faster than lightning and not in a million timelines would she'd have had the chance to react. Kai walked away and dropped the bloody rock to the ground. She'd bleed out, he knew that for a fact, so there was no worrying about her screwing up his plans. Without a moment to lose, he teleported to the last place he'd left Mark, but the tan furred fox was not there. His ears perked as he heard a scream of rage off in the distance, he quickly teleported near the area and began searching.

It didn't take him very long to pinpoint his friends location, as a flock of hawks bolted through the sky near a clearing in the park.

Kai darted after them, the rush of the wind blew his thick black fur back as he felt freshly dampened grass stamping against his bare paws with ever kick of his powerful legs. He jumped over a log and dodged tree's as they came at him, taking only a few brief moments to reach his destination.

Kai skidded to a stop, lifting his head and glancing ahead to see his companion, Mark was surrounded by the dead bodies of the large birds of prey, others bolted toward him and he dodged one attack while slicing the head clean off of another bird. He was in terrible shape, his fur was matted from sweat, dirt, and dried blood, his colors faded softly as he panted for breath. It pained Kai to see the one he cared for more than anything in such a state, Mark was a true warrior though, the black fox knew his friend enjoyed a good fight and would definitely attempt to take on a whole army on his own.

Was it stupidity? Was it bravery? Kai didn't know, but it had always been something he admired in the sandy furred vulpine. Now though, Kai could see that Mark looked like he'd drop at any second. The ex-cooperate clenched the Akira amulet tightly in his palm, he'd stolen it off of Zoey right after striking her, it's golden wings now glinted in the light of the morning sun. A beacon of the bond Mark and Kai shared... Or rather... A beacon of what Mark wanted to share with Zoey.

 _'The "oh so innocent" cyan blue harlot, she didn't deserve what he gave her... She was weak.'_

One of the hawks noticed Kai, then noticed what he was holding, the attack halted in favor or moving over to him. Mark paused and looked up, confused, then he saw the midnight fox.

"Kai! Where's Zoey!?"

Kai teleported next to Mark, who jumped slightly from the sudden move, but calmed down shortly after. The air was tense as hawks slowly surrounded them from every angle, Kai shoved the amulet into Marks hand, and they locked eyes.

"Do you know how to use it?"

The black furred vulpine asked his companion, the other shaking his head in reply as a grim look overtook his features.

"I was only meant to charge it, Zoey is the one who's meant to use it-"

"Zoey is dead, I am sorry. I could not get to her in time, she killed herself by jumping from a tree."

Kai had cut Mark off at the bare end of his sentence, he felt hate well up inside of him, but he knew he couldn't let it distract him from his current objective. Mark's eyes filled with sorrow at the news he'd just received, his heart shattered and his blood began to run faster, he could hear pounding deep in his skull as a chill ran throughout his body. So many emotions struck him at once, all of them far too complex for his simple mind to comprehend. In less then twenty four hours it seemed he'd lost almost everything that was dear to him. His younger brother, his team, his... Mark clenched his eyes as he swallowed hard, rage filling his very being.

Kai did not like seeing Mark in such a state, he could sense that the fox was struggling immensely, not just with his physical pain, but also with his now broken heart. It filled Kai with an unimaginable amount of pure disgust, how the one he'd vowed to give his vary life for could care so much about a practical stranger, yet not seem to cast a glance at himself.

 _'Sure, he's so very concerned about that insufferable rat, but did he even bother to ask how I was doing? No.'_

Kai bit his tongue, knowing that if he even so much as breathed he'd say something that he'd deeply regret in the future.

"Zoey's death will be avenged."

He heard Mark say, the latter having opened his eyes once more. They once again locked eyes, sun-blessed orbs meeting deep chocolate pools, Kai could see the fire festering deep within the tan vulpine s very soul. A fire that only grew brighter as the seconds ticked by, heat building between the two as they stared, Kai wouldn't admit the fact that he felt himself going red at their close proximity.

Kai's mind snapped back to their current predicament, knowing he couldn't allow himself to become distracted. The older of the two gave Mark a look that confirmed what they were both thinking, _'we're going to end this war. Once and for all...'_ The pair turned back towards the hawks that currently had them trapped, a new found strength having formed in between them.

The bright energy of the amulet crackled in their seemingly shared minds, a promise had been made in that moment, and it was a promise that Kai intended to keep.

Without a hint of a warning two hawks, one white and one black, jolted forward unto the readied foxes. Kai jumped to the right while Mark leaped to the left, the latter pushed himself at the white hawk and sliced his sword at its wing, the hit made contact and the hawk screeched in pain. The another hawk jumped from the crowd and tackled Mark down, but was impaled by the blade of Kai's sword as he heaved it off of his companion.

Mark tried to tap into the power of the amulet, he dug around in the depths of his subconscious in a hopeless attempt to summon its might, but ultimately he ended up wincing from a sharp migraine that suddenly befell his head.

"It's no use! I wasn't chosen to wield its power- Kai, you try it okay? Maybe you'll be able to get a better result then I can!"

Tossing the amulet to the black fox, Mark once again focused himself on the fight, now using his sword to block a hawk from goring him with its beak. Kai didn't speak as the jewel found itself in his possession, he clenched his fist around the necklace' base tightly as he concentrated onto it. He felt the gem crackle in his grasp, a sudden wave of electric energy filled his being and he opened his eyes. They glowed bright and gold with firey white, he opened his mouth and took a deep gulp of hot air, then much to the shock of Mark and the hawks the midnight fox released a bellowing scream of raging hot fire unto the battlefield.

He heaved for breath as the fresh air seemingly turned his lungs to ice, he'd toasted a good chunk of the enemy forces, though he now had an even worse pounding headache and he could feel a mental strain emanating between himself and the akira amulet.  
It seemed a white hot string of pure mental energy had linked his mind to the small blue crystal, ancient words he didn't understand whispered devilishly in the back of his mind, though he couldn't speak the language, the weakened black fox found he suddenly had a deeper instinctual understanding of the world around him.

Mark whistled as he shoved the hawk he'd been fighting to the ground and quickly plunged his sword into and then out of its twitching body.

"Now that was hot."

He'd obviously meant how the sudden burst of power had made the whole area around them much warmer than before, but Mark and his absent minded dumb-brain did not quite have the mental capacity to realize Kai had taken it as a double meaning. The second meaning of which Kai chose to ignore, less he end up tripping over his own tail and getting them both captured, or worse, killed.

"Think you could use it to wipe out the rest of em?"

Kai looked up at his companion, vision blurring he tried to respond, but his throat was very dry. He gasped again, then nodded weakly, he wasn't sure if he really could but he hoped against hope that he had enough energy for at least one more blast.

 _How hard can it be? If the blue rat could do it once then so can I!_

As Mark continued to fight the on-slot of hawk attacks, Kai readied himself and took a deep breath, he focused and felt the amulet crackle once again in his hands. Suddenly he was shoved off balance as a much larger and grey colored bird flung itself onto him, gasping Kai's grip loosened and the amulet went flying into the air. Mark turned and shouted, he attempted to catch the artifact but was too late- Another hawk grabbed the gem in it's beak and quickly began flying away. The sandy furred fox bolted after the bird and launched himself at it, however another hawk had grabbed him by the tail with it's beak, it too shot up into the air as the two were headed back toward the city in the sky.

"M-Mark!"

Kai cried, his throat burned and his whole body ached, realizing he'd need to catch up with them later he turned and headbutted the ashen bird atop him as hard as he could. It squawked but recovered quickly, pecking at his head, he shifted to the side quickly and it's beak slammed into the ground hard enough to cause the earth to quake. Kai leaned up and bit the base of it's wing as hard as he could, the bird shrieked and this gave the black vulpine enough time to shove his legs into its gut and effectively kick it off of him once and for all.

Kai heard Mark shout once again, this time from much farther away, that's all the ex-assassin needed to teleport himself unto a high up tree branch, he used the pull-back to sling shot himself into the air.

He hadn't enough momentum though, and he began plummeting toward the earth.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors Note;** _Oop, this is technically the last chapter before the epilogue, there is one line of Gojian in this at the end, personally I think i've gotten better at writing it since last time! Hh wow, this sure has been one wild ride of a story, I really do hope I did this series justice with my first official fanfic of it! Honestly, the fandom for Fairy Foxes is so small, I bet this fic is actually the FIRST fanfic of this fandom! :O_

* * *

 **WOOSH!**

Kai felt the breath escape him as he slammed into something hard, the firm surface was warm and he could feel a pulsing coming from it, he lifted his head and sat up noticing he was traveling upwards rather then downwards.

"Kai! I'm glad I caught you in time, what were you doing falling from the sky!? And where are the others?"

Kai looked forward into the face of a green dragoness, he realized he'd landed on her back and the two were currently flying toward the sky city.

"Melody... I thank you for the save, I agree launching myself from a branch was more or less questionable."

"Huh?"

She blinked, Kai's expression fell flat and he continued speaking.

"But I'm afraid I haven't much time to explain-"

Kai winced as his words were cut off by a scream, Melody looked up shocked, through a clearing in the clouds they could see the hawk carrying Mark and the other hawk that held the amulet. The two were about half way to the sky kingdom, the dragon suddenly understood the severity of the situation and began pumping her wings faster to catch up with them.

As they reached closer to the kingdom Kai noticed more hawks flying down towards them from the castle, he alerted Melody just in time for her to dodge an attack. The black fox felt his stomach soar into his throat as he held on for dear life when the dragon rolled out of the way of another attack. Melody apologized with a giggle and Kai ignored her, they gained traction on the hawks and Melody was able to swoop forward and grab the hawk with the amulet by its tail feathers. The bird squeaked and squawked as the dragon shook it around violently, the amulet was flung through the air, Kai caught the glistening gold necklace just in time and Melody flung the unconscious bird down to the earth below.

"Kai, do you think you can teleport onto the other hawk and rescue Mark?"

Kai nodded with a grunt, he readied himself, then with the combined power of the amulet and his own skills he disappeared and reappeared on top of the other hawk. It shrieked and jolted as Mark cried out, it's grip tightened on his tail as Kai began choking the bird out, the weight of the two foxes proved to be too much for it as the three began barrel rolling through the sky. The bundle of fur and feathers crashed through a castle window and all three hit the ground, rolling and skidding until Kai felt himself it a wall.

Darkness quickly enveloped the black vulpine and the world flashed out of existence as he felt himself fall into unconsciousness.

* * *

The metallic taste of blood was the first thing the midnight furred fox noticed as he slowly awoke, the second thing, was the warm body pressed against his back. Kai opened his eyes and painfully looked around, he was sitting with his knees to his chest in the throne room, Mark was struggling lightly behind him and the two were both tide up from their shoulders to their waists.

Kai looked over to the throne where king Garuda sat, the old battle scarred bird smirked at him and spoke.

"Good afternoon, Kai. Normally I'd have had you sent to the dungeon to be executed immediatly, but considering the bit of damage you've done to my cooperate forces, I'd though it'd be better if I simply let you _watch_ the fun."

Kai growled lowly, the throbbing in his head had faded to a dull ache once again, his muscles cried in pain as his vision blurred the world around him. Mark's struggling intensified, he'd even begun to bite at the rope that held them.

King Garuda nodded at someone behind the pair, and after a moment a grey feathered hawk walked up to them, she loosened the rope just enough to yank Mark away before tightening it once more. The hawk pulled the struggling sand-colored fox over to the king and roughly threw him onto the ground in front of the throne. Mark had jumped up and was about to attack, when suddenly a white hot sensation ripped through his body as Garuda's electricity cracked wildly around him.

Mark let out a shrill scream of agony as his body twitched, Kai gritted his teeth as his ears flopped back, that's when he noticed a cold prick in his mind that was starting to grow bigger. Kai's attention instantly snapped to the amulet, it sat momentarily forgotten on a pedestal next to the throne, the black vulpines eyes nearly crossed as he suddenly realized a faint white line lazily floated from his forehead to the small butterfly shaped weapon. It didn't seem like anyone noticed the string, Kai clenched his eyes shut as he focused.

The air filled with electricity as Kai suddenly shrieked, the ropes burnt off of him in a white hot flash and within a second he teleported to the amulet, grabbed, it, and bolted over to Mark. Launching himself into the air he shoved Mark out of the kings electric hold, sending the two toppling to the floor.

Garuda stood from his throne and yelled for the guards, readying himself for another attack.

Mark managed to recover pretty quickly and he and Kai jumped out of the way of the lightening just in time, the doors of the room slammed open and three hawks ran inside. Kai held the akira amulet tightly in his hand, another surge of energy ran through his now energized-body as he shot a blast of white magic at the king. Garuda dodged, and the following explosion was enough to entirely destroy the throne. Mark launched himself at one of the hawk guards, he didn't have his sword so he had to result to punching and kicking as his best method of fighting.

Kai's attention was focused currently on the king, Garuda growled at the black fox, then launched himself at him. Kai dodged and teleported behind the brown feathered hawk, kicking him hard in the back and sending him crashing to the ground, Garuda skidded a few feet but quickly recovered. Once again he aimed an electric shock at the Gojian.

Kai wasn't quite fast enough to dodge this time, and the shock singed his side and sent enough of a zap through him to leave him twitching on the floor.

"KAI!"

Mark called out in fear, he managed to knock out the last hawk guard, and squeaked as he dodged a sudden areal attack from the king. It took Kai a moment to pull himself off of the floor, with a breath he managed to use the amulets energy to stop the pain once again, opening his eyes to survey the scene. Mark was holding onto Garuda's wing as the bird flapped violently in the air, the latter attempting to peck at the former as the sandy-furred fox kicked at his side.

Garuda send a shock through Mark and the vulpine hit the ground with a thud, groaning. The hawk king grinned evilly, as he prepared for another attack, then suddenly he shrieked out as the black furred Gojian knocked him out of the air and unto the cold stone below. Kai began punching Garuda as hard as he could as the other sputtered in confusion, then he felt the air leave his body as he was knocked accross the room from a sudden wing to the gut.

Kai slammed into yet another wall, growling deeply as his vision blurred. Ever a persistent being, the ex-cooperate stood once again, and blinding threw himself toward the hawk with a fist of white hot fire.

He'd hadn't enough time to stop his momentum as the chocolate-hued hawk flew out of his path, and his fist smoothly glided directly through Marks chest.

* * *

The entire room was still, not a sound could be heard, the light gasp of his friend as his own black fist slid through his chest hadn't even registered in Kai's cracked mind. All he could see was the white blaze lick at Marks fur as his neck and stomach began to alight, everything had turned to slow motion as the the tan furred fox's body slowly evaporated into ash in front of him.

The crack grew, and Kai's mind finally broke.

The first sense he regained was the feeling of his heart thumping painfully in his ears, then came the smell of melting flesh as his friend literally withered away in front him him. The fire of the amulet having been so hot that it slowly broke down and disintegrated everything around it, blood leaked from Mark's mouth, eyes, and ears as his body was being dissolved. Kai pulled away, the movement fluid as mark's melting body crumpled in a mass of bloody and broken fur in front of him, it only took a few seconds for his friend to be reduced to nothing but a red-tinted sack of scorching meat on the floor. The fire ate him from the inside out, and what currently lay before the black kitsune was completely unrecognizable as having ever been a fairy fox.

Or any living creature, for that matter.

"Fuck."

He heard the king mutter above him, having realized his mistake.

"Fuck is right."

Kai said softly, his voice completely emotionless as he spoke.

"Oh how thineth' selfish bound yon activity howt dire thy's intent."  
 **(Oh how your selfish motive to flee has has killed your plans.)**

Kai stood, a light crackling noise began to build in intensity as he solemn rage manifested itself in the form of small sparks of light that began to flicker in and around his body. In a flash his black fur faded to white as his iris' shifted to a glowing blue, massive angelic wings burst from his back as his his whole body developed a light blue glow of pristine energy.

The akira amulet glowed brightly as well, it had somehow teleported itself around the Gojian's neck, as it's full power was unlocked inside of him.

Garuda hadn't had time to scream as a wall of white hot energy blast over him, in only seconds the king was gone and the entire wall had seemingly evaporated into mist. With a flap of his newly discovered wings, Kai sent himself through the air and high into the sky, his sharp glare pointed directly at the castle as he powered up two more balls on magic.

In one swift motion he blast the energy beams down at the castle, which was shown to only be rubble by the time the smoke cleared. That was about when the energy from the akira amulet started to become to much for his physical form, Kai didn't make a peep as his body began to slowly rip itself apart from the inside.

His last thought before he was plunged into an eternal void of darkness was... _We've both won, and failed. Good job, Mark._


End file.
